


One Life Stand

by saturdaaaay



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Inspired by a Movie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-12
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-02-12 20:19:49
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2123364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saturdaaaay/pseuds/saturdaaaay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy and Loki meet on the plane from D.C. to New York after graduation. He hits on her, she finds him repugnant. Some years later, they're both working for Stark Industries and cross paths again, and again, until they become the one thing neither of them expects: friends.</p><p>Inspired by When Harry Met Sally...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Beginning

**Author's Note:**

> A List:  
> \- Title comes from the Hot Chip song of the same name.  
> \- Don't ask me how WHMS and One Life Stand are related. Just go with it.  
> \- There is still Stark Industries, Tony and Bruce are still bros, Darcy and Jane are still BFF. Again, just go with it.

**2008**

The guy in the seat next to her wasn’t bad looking. Far from it, really, with his pale skin and black hair that curled around his ears. It was too bad he was cooing into his phone. “No, we haven’t even left the gate. I’ll miss you too, baby. New York isn’t that far from D.C., we can visit. Of course I’ll call you when we land. Of course, baby.”

Darcy rolled her eyes and let herself casually inspect the stranger. She cringed when she saw the Culver University sweatshirt in his carry on bag, and fingered the hood string of her own Culver sweatshirt.

The plane started to pull away from the gate. The guy cooed some more before turning off his phone and settling into his seat. He smiled apologetically at Darcy. She winced back and waited for take off.

The flight to New York would be short, but long enough for a nap. She was hungover from graduation weekend celebrations. It had been a blur of dinner and brunch with her family, and staying out too late drinking with her friends, both dreading and looking forward to the next chapters in their lives. Darcy was pretty pumped for the next stage of her life: working for Stark Industries in their PR department, with all the perks, plus the ability to see Jane whenever she wanted.

However. The guy pointed at her sweatshirt. “You go to Culver, too?”

“Uh, went. I went to Culver. Just graduated.” She plucked at the zipper of her hoodie and wished she had taken it off. She also wished she had put her headphones on immediately after sitting down, to avoid the possibility of a chatty neighbor.

“Ah.” He grinned so wide Darcy could see his molars. “Me as well. Post-doc, though.”

She pointed to his powered down cell phone. “Girlfriend?”

The guy winked and shrugged. “If you want to call her that.” He stuck his hand out. “Loki Odinson.”

“Darcy Lewis,” she responded. Loki still had her hand, gently pumping it up and down. He looked at her expectantly. “Uh. What brings you to New York?”

“What every recent university graduate goes there for,” he said. He finally released her hand. “Running the rat race. And my older brother is already there. What about you?”

“I was headhunted and offered a job in the city. Technology firm,” Darcy said. It wasn’t a lie. Well, maybe a little bit of a lie. It was more like Jane had pulled some strings and after being flown to New York for an interview and signing some NDAs, Darcy had a guaranteed career after graduation, something a lot of her friends were jealous of. The perks were nice, the bonuses were great, and she would be working directly with Pepper Potts and Tony Stark. Life wasn’t half bad.

“Headhunted, eh?

“Yes.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“Not really.”

She must have gotten the message across, because Loki held up his hands in defeat. He made a show of getting his tablet and headphones out of his bag and settling in to read a book.

Darcy felt a surge of pleasure that this seemed to shut him up. She pulled her hood up over her head and opened her book. She didn’t look up until the stewardess was passing by with complimentary drinks. She asked for a water, no glass, just the bottle please. Loki asked for an orange juice.

Unfortunately, Loki took the interruption from their separate activities as an opening to chat. All she wanted was to read her book and fall asleep for a short while.  


“So, I think I know how this is going to go, but I don’t suppose you would want to get dinner with me sometime?” He waggled his eyebrows.

Darcy’s eyes bugged out of her head. She wanted to smack the salacious grin off his face and was pretty sure her mouth was hanging open in an astonished gape. “You have a girlfriend, you can’t come on to me.”

“I said earlier she wasn’t _really_ my girlfriend.” He sounded disgusted by the idea that he could possibly have a girlfriend. “She’s more like a friend.”

“You have sex with all your friends?”

“No man can be friends with a woman he finds attractive."

Darcy crossed her arms over her chest, realized that this pushed her boobs up, and put her arms back down to fiddle with her water bottle. "That's bullshit."

"He always wants to have sex with her,” he stated, complete with a sage nod.

Darcy snorted. “I know plenty boys that are just friends.”

“Riiiight. I bet they’ve thought of having sex with you, though. Or they’ve thought of you while…” Loki made a fist and moved it up and down over his crotch. “All they would need is an opportunity and they would take it. I guarantee it.”

Darcy cringed and looked for the stewardess. She needed a drink; something that wasn’t water, hangover be damned.

“And even if that weren’t the case,” he plowed on, “somewhere, down the line, sex will happen.”

“Do you have any friends who are girls?” Darcy asked. “And I mean, just friends?”

Loki snorted and rolled his eyes. “Please.”

They were quiet. Darcy went back to her book, but her mind betrayed her. She thought of all her male friends, of which she had a modest handful. Did they all really want to sleep with her? And if they didn’t, would they pass up the opportunity, if it indeed came up? There were some male friends she could maybe see herself having sex with (not dating, she reminded herself. Purely sex.) There were others she wouldn’t dream of climbing into bed with. 

“What about the ones you’re not sexually—?”

“I’d still do it.”

“Horndog,” Darcy muttered. She re-opened her book and focused on the words on the page. It was a good book; it was her first book for reading pleasure in she didn’t know how long—

“It’s not a matter of being horny.” Loki put away his tablet and plugged his headphones into his armrest and started flicking through channels. “It’s just a matter of men and women can’t be friends without some sort of sexual tension seeping in. Someone always wants it, so it’s just better to not tempt fate.”

She slammed her book shut and glared at Loki. “Horny doesn’t sound right coming out of your mouth, with that ridiculous accent, which I’m sure is fake,” Darcy hissed. “So maybe just stop talking.”

The harder she glared at Loki, the more his smirk grew until the corners of his eyes crinkled. “If that’s what you want.” He adjusted his neck pillow and closed his eyes.

Darcy tried some relaxing breathing exercises she had learned in her yoga class. New York was a big enough city that they never had to see each other again after this flight. It was like a mantra, going through her head.

Tony had offered her an apartment in Stark Tower, but she declined, not wanting to feel like she was taking advantage. Hell, she already had a job purely by pulling a few strings, and would be getting paid much more than the job probably warranted. She had wanted to find her own place in a neighborhood she liked. When Tony looked a little hurt at her refusal, he practically steamrollered her into using his estate agent. He even paid all the broker fees. She joked about it being an advance on her paycheck, but the look on Tony’s face made her shut her mouth. Now she was renting a nice, quirky place downtown.

Darcy woke when the plane landed on the tarmac at JFK. She kept her head against the window, watching the tarmac roll underneath. All she could think about was pizza and bed.

Loki was up and out of his seat and headed towards the exit as soon as the seatbelts light was off. Darcy collected her things and tucked her earbuds in, excited to see Jane, move into her apartment, and order the biggest New York pizza ever. Loki was waiting for her when she stepped off the gangway. He fell into step with her.

“Oh my god, what do you want?”

“So that’s a no on dinner?”

Darcy wished she had her taser. Her hand literally itched for it. Unfortunately, you can’t bring things like that on an airplane. “I can’t believe I even have to say this. Again. No!”

He nodded and stuck his hand out. His face looked solemn but there was a twinkle in his eyes that made Darcy a bit wary. “I was just checking! Good luck in New York. Darcy Lewis.”

She grudgingly shook his hand. “You, too.” He let go and got lost in the crowd headed towards baggage claim. By the time she got there he had disappeared. It was just as well.

Jane was waiting for her on the curb with a Stark Industries car. They exchanged hugs and joyous shouts of being reunited.

“How was the flight?”

Darcy heaved her suitcase into the trunk and slammed it closed. She glared at Jane over the top of the car. “I sat next to a creep.”

Jane looked sorry for Darcy. “I’m sure he wasn’t that—"

“Jane, you know I can handle a higher level of creep than most chicks, but this guy took the cake.”

“Well, come on, you can tell me all about it while we’re stuck in traffic,” Jane said.

 

\--------------

 

**2012**

Darcy’s dress was almost too tight. There was no way she was going to be able to sit down or eat at any point in the night, but it made her rack look good, so she didn’t care. She had ice cream, sweatpants and a boyfriend waiting for her at home as a reward.

Still.

“Stop fidgeting, you look great,” Pepper said. “Aren’t you glad you splurged?”

“Thrilled,” Darcy ground out. “I would have preferred to splurge on new yoga pants.” She surreptitiously tugged the hem of her dress down.

The party swirled around her, the party she had been planning for six months around the release of new tech from Stark Industries. Tony wanted a party, he was going to get a party. She made sure that everyone from Tony down to the sixth floor janitor was invited, plus almost anyone they had ever done a deal with. The atrium of Stark Tower was all decked out in tasteful, minimal decorations to highlight the high ceilings of the atrium.

“You deserve it,” Pepper said. She clinked her glass against Darcy’s. “This party is wonderful, you did a great job.”

“Thank you,” Darcy said. She looked at her nearly empty glass of wine and winced. It was hitting her faster than she wanted, and she was wearing five inch heels. “Too bad I can’t eat anything though, or I’ll bust a seam.”

Darcy’s phone buzzed in her clutch. She did a spectacular amount of woman juggling to get her phone out, without spilling her wine all over her (very expensive) dress. Mentally patting herself on the back, she scrolled through her messages. Most of them were Tony or Jane and their inane chatter, but some of them were pertinent to her job. (Not that Tony wasn’t pertinent to her job, but when one out of 20 emails were actually work-related and not weird forwards, or bordering on inappropriate, well.)

She vaguely registered Pepper talking to someone else as she tapped out a response to a query from _The New York Times_. But that voice. That ridiculous, posh accent. Fuck. Darcy knew that voice. She risked glancing up from her phone and it _was_ him. He had seen her though, too late to run away. Time to face the music and be an adult.

“Well, I can’t take credit for the party, Loki,” Pepper was saying. “That’s all Darcy.” She cupped Darcy’s elbow and nodded at her.

“Loki, this is Darcy Lewis. She does PR, mostly for Tony.” Like any woman who has been working crowds and making introductions for years as Tony Stark’s right hand man, Pepper was a pro. Darcy had been doing this for four years and she wasn’t that smooth. Pepper gestured at Loki. “Loki works in R&D.”

Darcy shook hands with Loki. She hoped Clint would stop by soon to rescue her, maybe play fake boyfriend with her, since her real one couldn’t be here, but alas. “Nice to meet you.”

Loki smirked at her. “Likewise.” He glanced behind him and gestured vaguely to the crowd. “Well, I’m going to…”

“Of course. It was nice to see you, Loki,” Pepper said.

He tipped an imaginary cap and meandered through the crowd.

Darcy exhaled so heavily that her shoulders sagged. “Oh, thank god.”

“What?”

“I thought for sure he was going to recognize me, but he didn’t.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. She went to take a sip of her wine, but realized that her glass was empty. Perfect.

Pepper craned her neck to look at Loki. “You know him? You work in completely different departments.”

“We were seated next to each other on the plane from D.C. to New York after graduation, years ago. I was hungover, he came onto me.” She waved it away. “I need more wine, and I spy Jane.”

Pepper looked in the direction Darcy had pointed. “She looks like she’s been on an all night bender. Go rescue her.”

Darcy excused herself and skirted the edges of the room, keeping Jane within eyesight, but also keeping a look-out for Loki. She hoped that he hadn’t recognized her. After all, it had been five—no, four—years since that awful plane ride. She was an adult now, and no longer in her weird emo/grunge phase and liked to think that she had picked up a few lessons from Pepper over the years. 

She found an empty space at the bar and placed her order. While she waited, she ruminated on Loki and the present situation. She didn’t know he worked for SI. They never revealed what their degrees were in: Loki had been too busy hitting on her and Darcy had been too busy being hungover.

Someone placed their glass of scotch next to her empty wine glass and leaned back against the bar. Loki was in a blue suit. He wasn’t wearing a tie, and the top buttons of his dress shirt were unbuttoned, leaving a hint of pale collarbone visible. His hair was longer than it had been on the plane. It reached his shoulders now, and while Darcy didn’t find long-haired men attractive as a rule, it worked on him.

“Headhunted by a tech firm?” Loki asked.

Closing her eyes, Darcy took as deep a breath as the dress would allow. “Yes.”

“Stark doesn’t do headhunting. Not really, anyway.”

“You’re right, he doesn’t.” That bartender was taking an awfully long time with her drink. She tapped her fingers on the bartop, willing the bartender back with her drink. She stood up straight and turned to face Loki.

“You’re close with Pepper, and pretty high up there.” He looked at her shrewdly. “Who do you know?”

“A friend of a friend, through a random internship one summer to satisfy a science credit.” Darcy hoped that if she was terse and to the point, he would go away. It usually worked with the press. The bartender arrived with her drink and she smiled gratefully and left a sizeable tip. “Plus, you know Dr. Banner is from Culver. It’s a small world.”

She saw Jane and Bruce standing in a corner, looking like caged rabbits and decided that it would be best to go rescue them.

“Excuse me.” She stalked off in that direction, but Loki followed.

“Do you want to get dinner?” he asked.

She stopped and turned around. Even though she was wearing these monstrous shoes, he still towered over her. “I’m seeing someone.”

“So am I,” he said. He smiled and it wasn’t creepy; it was a ridiculously sappy, small smile. “Engaged, actually. And I meant as friends. Dinner as friends.”

Darcy couldn’t help herself. She laughed in Loki’s face. It bubbled up from her tummy and just came out. “Engaged? You?”

Loki’s mouth fell open and his forehead creased. A look of genuine hurt crossed his face. “Why do you find that so funny?”

Darcy managed to catch her breath and fanned her eyes, wary of her make-up. “I’m sorry, it’s just...the last time I saw you, you were spouting some bullshit about how men and women can’t be friends. As an adult, I have plenty of male friends, and I can assure you, none of them want to sleep with me.”

Loki crossed his arms over his chest. “I still maintain that, and I won’t bring up the fact that you work quite closely with Tony Stark. I don’t know why you find it so unbelievable that I could be getting married.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Darcy schooled her face into something resembling seriousness. “It’s just that you were such a shmuck on the plane with your, ‘If you want to call her my girlfriend,’” she said, in what she hoped was a good imitation of Loki’s posh accent. “It’s just a little hard to believe, that’s all.”

Loki pursed his lips. “Her name is Lara, she’s an editor at Harper’s Bazaar. We met through mutual friends. We’re getting married in six months at—”

Darcy held her hand up to stymie the talking. “I get it, you don’t have to _prove_ that you’re getting married. I am going to go to my friend Jane and rescue her from the bottom of her wineglass. Enjoy the rest of your night, Loki.”

“No to dinner then?” Loki called as she walked away.

“Not a chance,” she called over her shoulder. She approached Jane and Bruce who looked grateful for the rescue.

“Who was that you were talking to?” Jane asked, at the same time Bruce said, “Was that Loki from R&D?”

Darcy decided to answer Bruce first. “Yes, that was Loki. And Jane, that’s the guy I was telling you about, from the plane.”

Realization dawned on Jane’s face. “ _That's_ him?" She whistled low. "You didn’t tell me he looked like that.” She watched him walk towards the exit.

“How do you know him, Darcy?” Bruce asked.

Darcy was deep into her wine glass, so she waved her hand at Jane to fill him in.

“They were neighbors on the flight from D.C. to New York after graduation like, five years ago. He hit on her, she was creeped out, blah blah.”

“Everyone from R&D speaks very highly of him. He’s a genius computer scientist, and has a pretty thorough physics background.”

Jane’s eyes went large and Darcy shook her head vigorously. She rolled her eyes at Bruce. “See what you did, Banner?” She grasped Jane’s thin shoulders. “Don’t. First, he’s a giant dick. Second, he’s engaged.”

“But. Purely professional. I never get to go to R&D,” Jane whined.

“And for good reason. Nope.” It was funny that years after her internship, she was still keeping Jane in check, even though her job description was PR. She checked her phone; it was almost midnight. If she started saying her goodbyes now, she could be home before one. “I’m gonna go. Enjoy the rest of the party.” She dropped her wine glass on a passing waiter’s tray and hugged Jane, then shook hands with Bruce. “See you tomorrow.”

“It’s Friday,” Bruce reminded her.

Darcy slapped her forehead. “Right, right,” even though they all knew she would be at the office tomorrow, and they would be in the lab. “See you.”

She didn’t get home until after one. Tony had asked for a dance, then talked her ear off about what he wanted for his next party. When she got home it was to find her boyfriend passed out on the couch, her tub of ice cream a puddle of chocolate milk and brownie chunks on the coffee table, Seth Meyers saying goodnight on the television.

Story of her life.


	2. The Middle I

**2014\. September.**

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever,” Jane said as they settled down at the table. She ignored her menu to lean forward over the table and stare at Darcy. She had an almost manic gleam in her eyes, as if she hadn't slept for a few days.

“Dude, it was only for two weeks,” Darcy said. “An exhausting two weeks, but, still.”

She was seriously jetlagged but didn’t have it within her to say no to lunch with Jane, when she asked. Jetlag on top of mental exhaustion from chasing Tony all over Asia, plus her current mood wasn’t adding up to a Darcy that was ready to play catch-up over lunch.

Their plane hadn’t gotten in until two in the morning, which to her was more like three in the afternoon, so she had just sat in her empty apartment in the dark, until morning. She was starting to regret her decision.

“How was the trip?”

“Ugh, ridiculous." She yawned so wide her jaw cracked. "Fun, but ridiculous. It was as if I were Pepper for the trip, minus the weird sex. Tony wouldn’t let me pay for anything, even my tchotchke souvenirs. I had to remind him he pays me really well and to stop.” 

"Did he?"

“Ha.” Darcy perused the menu. There wasn’t anything she was really in the mood for, except for some water and sleep. “Anything fun happen while I was gone?”

Jane proceeded to regale her with tales of the lab that she and Bruce had taken over six months ago. It was closer to Tony’s, because Tony preferred shouting to using JARVIS to relay a message. But her mind kept wandering back to the empty apartment she had returned to in the wee hours of the morning. She had been gone for two weeks, what could have changed in two weeks—

“Darcy. Darcy.” Jane patted her arm. “Where did you go, just then?”

Darcy forced a wan smile. “Sorry. My mind wandered and I am seriously jet lagged. Keep going.”

“Are you all right?” Jane asked.

“Fine, fine.” She waved Jane’s concern away and sipped her water.

“I know when you’re lying, Darcy Lewis.”

Darcy pushed her hair out of her face and massaged her temples. There was no other way than to just say it. “Ryan left.” 

Jane spluttered on her sip of water. She wiped her mouth with her napkin. “I’m sorry, what?”

Darcy exhaled so deeply, she felt a little bit of the weight that had been sitting on her sternum disappear. “When I got back this morning at like, almost three, he wasn’t there. I had texted him when we landed, but he didn't respond; I figured he was sleeping. All of his things are gone. His books, his artwork, his supplies, his easels, the television, his bedside table cleaned out. The fucking coffee maker.” She felt her eyes droop with exhaustion. “Gone.”

“But.” Jane gaped and flopped back against her chair. “I can’t believe it.”

“Yeah.”

“Have you talked to him?”

“I texted him. He said he couldn’t do it anymore.”

“What the—do _what_ anymore?” Jane demanded. 

Darcy truly appreciated Jane’s reaction. If she wasn’t so dazed she was sure she would join in on the Ryan-bashing, but she was going on her twenty-eighth hour with no sleep. Her brain was having trouble processing everything. 

“We had been having a few problems lately,” Darcy admitted. “He didn’t like that I work a lot, he didn’t like the fancy parties, the rubbing elbows. I wouldn’t use my connections to get him an in with a good gallery. I told him if he wanted to use connections, he should actually _come_ to some of the events and _make_ connections, but nooo, he didn’t want to sully his ‘independent mind.’”

Darcy heaved a great sigh. The more she talked the better she felt, so she kept going. “Basically he felt that I was turning into a corporate drone, that my ideals had been compromised by my corporate job, and that I was a different person than when we had met three years ago.”

Jane rubbed Darcy’s arm. “People change, Darce.”

Darcy shook her head. “He hasn’t. That’s the problem.” 

She sat back in her chair, looking at her surroundings. This wasn’t a fancy restaurant, but it’s not anywhere Ryan would have taken her, preferring diners and smaller restaurants all the fuck the way out in Brooklyn, near his old apartment. Sometimes, she wanted to go someplace that didn’t have a cheeseburger on the menu, and the clientele didn’t have ironic facial hair and fake, thick-rimmed glasses.

Had she changed over the past three years? She knew she was working more: both Tony and Pepper had given her more responsibilities, and she traveled with Tony or Pepper quite often. For the extra work she had been more than properly compensated with a raise (she was finally able to move into a nicer place above Midtown), a company car, and a lot of vacation time. 

She was on a first name basis with the mayor and the governor, the president’s press secretary, and a few higher-ups in the military, plus a small handful of celebrities. Flying on the company jet didn’t faze her, and neither did suddenly going off on a factory tour of Asia for two weeks.

“I am not who I was when I graduated, that’s for sure. I wanted to do good, to change the world. I had all these ideas.”

“And you _are_ , Darcy. You are,” Jane reassured her. “You’re helping Tony, and Pepper, and me, and Bruce, and everyone else that works for SI. Don’t let this break-up, or any other break-up in the future let you think you’re not making a difference.”

Darcy felt tears prick her eyes and smiled across the table at her best friend. “Thank you.” Jane’s kind words did wonders for Darcy’s mood, but the exhaustion settled heavy in her bones and made her brain all fuzzy.

Jane stood up and put her coat on and gathered her things. “Come on. We’re getting ice cream and booze, and going home.”

Darcy let Jane bundle her up and shepherd her out of the restaurant and into the waiting SI car.

\--------------

Darcy returned to work a few days after her aborted lunch with Jane. She had slept, a lot. She had cleaned her entire apartment, from top to bottom as soon as Jane left. By the time she was done, she had shoved five large garbage bags down the garbage shoot, and donated boxes and bags of books and clothes to the local charity.

Darcy felt a lot better. A fresh start, sort of. It was probably the most adult form of break-up therapy she had undertaken since graduating college. Break-ups used to be healed by shopping or drinking heavily and hooking up with strangers. Instead, she had cleaned her fucking apartment. Now the space was truly her own. Tony had even sent over a brand new (enormous) flat screen TV.

On the first floor of Stark Tower, just off the atrium, was a coffee shop where the majority of Stark employees stopped for their morning coffee and bagel. Darcy was no different. The only exception was this morning, instead of rushing in and rushing out, she actually had time to sit and enjoy her coffee and wheat bagel with veggie cream cheese. She had her Starkpad out and was answering emails when a shadow fell over her table.

She looked up and her jaw dropped. 

"Loki. Hi."

She had only seen him in passing since the party a few years ago. She knew he was married now, but she figured marriage made people happy. Instead Loki looked empty and his hair hung limp on his shoulders. His pale skin wasn't a healthy pale; it was almost grey. He had a to-go cup of coffee and a few pastry bags in his hands, his messenger bag slung over a shoulder.

"Hello, Darcy." 

Darcy winced. His voice sounded rough, like he had been talking for days on end. 

“I hope you don’t mind me being blunt, but you look like shit.” She picked her work bag up off the chair next to her. "Take a seat."

Loki's smile didn't quite reach his eyes. He sat, hunched in his chair. His eyes raked over Darcy—not in a lewd way—just assessing and taking in. "You look stunning, as usual."

Darcy couldn't detect any sarcasm in his compliment. She resisted making a snarky comment, and just accepted the compliment. "Oh. Thanks. But why don't you?"

"My divorce was finalized yesterday." He said it so matter of fact that it threw Darcy a little.

"Oh my god, Loki, I'm so sorry." She reached across the table and patted his hand where it was clenched on the table top. She released his hand and sat back in her chair. Picking at her bagel, she marveled at how horrible things happen to people and you think you're the only one going through it, but you're not the only one, really. "Huh. Everyone's breaking up."

"Everyone?"

Darcy shrugged. "By everyone I mean you and me," gesturing between them.

Loki's eyebrows rose. "You, too?"

"It was a long time coming," she said. "He left while I was with Tony on the Asia trip."

"He didn't think that you and Tony are…"

Darcy laughed. "No, no, nothing like that. There are—were—many reasons. But I think the main one is he said I had changed from the person he met three years ago. What about you?"

"I'm not even entirely sure." He cradled his cup against his chest. Darcy thought he looked worn out, like he could use a vacation someplace nice, and warm. "She said she didn't love me anymore. Maybe she never had."

She winced. "Look at us. Two miserable sad-sacks, commiserating over our failed relationships."

Loki chuckled and checked his watch. "I need to get upstairs. We're doing some testing today on some of my projects" He got up and gathered his coffee and food. He chewed on his lip and looked at Darcy. "I don't suppose you would want to commiserate over dinner. Would you?"

He looked so unsure of himself, and so beaten down that Darcy's heart almost broke. He had changed so much from the disgusting, cocky man on the plane. Apparently what he needed was to have his heart broken, and that was really too bad. 

"Sure. But I can't tonight, Tony's got a thing. But how does tomorrow night sound?"

Loki blinked. "I thought for sure you were going to say no. Again."

Darcy laughed as she flicked through her calendar on the Starkpad. "Hey, third time's a charm. Maybe I just feel sorry for you." She looked up at him. "Tomorrow night?"

"Uh, yeah. Yes." Loki swallowed and smiled. He offered his hand. "As friends."

She looked at the hand, then up at Loki. She shook his hand. "As friends."

\--------------

The restaurant Loki had chosen was within walking distance to the Tower, which she appreciated. She changed out of her work clothes and double checked her appearance in the mirror before heading out.

She was surprised to see Loki standing in the lobby at the elevator bay. His peacoat collar was already pulled up against the late-September evening air. He greeted her with a small nod of the head.

"You didn't have to wait for me, we could have met there."

"It's not a far walk. I don't mind." He gestured to the doors. "Shall we?"

The walk was short and quiet. The restaurant was perfect, and Darcy happily noted that there wasn't an ironic mustache in the place, nor a cheeseburger on the menu. Loki knew how to pick them.

After they placed drink orders, Darcy fidgeted a little in her chair. She knew this wasn't a date, but something in her mind wanted to make this out to be a bigger deal than it was.

Instead, she watched Loki. He hadn't changed much in appearance since that day on the airplane. His hair was a longer and he had faint lines around his eyes. He still looked downtrodden, and his movements were slow and calculated, as he sipped his water and flipped through his menu.

Loki cleared his throat and attempted a smile. "How have you been?"

"Loki, it's not a therapy session," Darcy said. "We can talk about anything you want."

So Loki proceeded to tell her about the testing they had been conducting the day before, his ideas that were working their way out of R&D and onto Tony's or Pepper's desks. As he talked, his face opened and he became more animated. Darcy was happy to sit back and watch, and ask questions in the right places.

"You seem remarkably okay," Loki said, as their food arrived.

Darcy unfolded and smoothed her napkin over her lap. So they were going to talk about this, now.

"I wasn't, for a few days. But I am, now."

"How? I'll take any help I can get, because…I am not doing okay." He laughed at himself, but it just sounded fake, and sad.

Darcy shrugged. "I understand why he did it, I guess. That might be something to do with it, the closure that comes from understanding. I'm pissed that he was a coward about it. I know there was no convincing him, or me, to change. But to just up and leave. Well."

"Dick move."

"Exactly." Darcy was afraid to ask Loki about his ex-wife. The guy looked like he might break at any minute if the wrong thing was said, but she realized he needed a friend, right now. She wasn't sure if she were the type of friend to bring it up and risk the consequences, or to wait for him to be comfortable enough to talk about it. 

"She hired movers." Apparently, he was comfortable enough. "I come home from a run on a Saturday morning, and there they were, taking the mattress out."

Darcy's jaw dropped. Women could be truly horrible creatures. She had done some not nice things to the men in her past, but nothing like that. Her situation wasn't nearly as dire as Loki's, who had lost half of his life to this woman. She didn't know how someone could be so cavalier with someone else's emotions. 

"I asked her where she would go, and she said she had a place. So I let her. The papers came a few days before I saw you at work."

Darcy held up her glass for a toast. "Misery loves company."

Loki clinked his glass with Darcy's. "To misery."

\--------------

"He didn't try anything after?" Jane drizzled chocolate syrup over her ice cream until the bowl was mostly syrup.

"He's just had his heart broken, Jane!"

"Hey, I don't know anything about him! Maybe he's looking for rebound sex!"

Darcy took the syrup bottle away from Jane. "I think that was the last thing on his mind." She took her bowl of ice cream and her mug of Bailey's hot chocolate over to the couch and sat down. "You didn't see him, though. He looks like he's been through a knock-down-drag-em-out fight. A shell of the person he was at the party a few years ago. It's like he doesn't care anymore."

"Maybe you should initiate rebound sex instead."

"That…what? No. I don't need, nor do I want rebound sex, and if he wants rebound sex, he can find it elsewhere. I'm not attracted to him."

Jane opened her mouth to speak but Darcy held up her hand. "And no, you can't have him."

"You haven't at least thought about it?"

"No. He's a friend."

"That's a different tune than last time, Ms. Lewis. He was a chauvinist pig."

"He needs a friend, not someone on the rebound and looking to get some."

"But—"

"Still no, Jane."


	3. The Middle II

**2014\. November.**

Darcy was slipping back into her pumps at her desk when there was a knock on the door. Loki poked his head in.

"Do you feel like lunch?"

Darcy eyed her cluttered desk. She was loaded down with briefings, memos, press release drafts, and other minutiae. Her stomach growled unpleasantly. She blanched when she saw that it was edging towards four; she hadn't eaten since a rushed yogurt with granola this morning.

"I could totally use the break." She chucked her pumps back under her desk and exchanged them for her flats. "More like a late lunch, though," she said as she locked up her office.

"Yeah, I got caught up in some work. I didn't notice the time passing. Much like you, it seems."

Darcy blew an errant strand hair out of her face. "Tony's…you know." She waved her hand in a vague motion.

Loki laughed. "Yes, I do know." He held the door open for her and they stepped into the late autumn sunshine.

Darcy pulled her scarf tighter around her neck as they walked up the block to a café they frequented.

"What were you working on that had you up there for so long?"

Loki launched into an extremely technical explanation that Darcy barely got the gist of. She felt bad interrupting him for an explanation, so she just let Loki ramble.

Loki's version of rambling was different from Tony's, who rambled—literally. It was conversational ping pong talking to Tony sometimes, bouncing from topic to topic and back around, finally landing on the point about ten minutes later. It made Darcy dizzy, even after the years she had put in at Stark Industries.

On the other hand, Loki talked slowly and with a laser focus that Darcy liked to think he used when he worked. He was precise and wouldn't be swayed from the topic.

"Will I have to draw up a press release for this in the near future?"

"Maybe? I was hoping to move it along sooner rather than later."

"I'll see what I can do for you."

Darcy didn't make it a habit to push projects through to Tony and Pepper's level. Jane was permanently on Tony's radar, so she didn't feel the need to pull any strings. While she had been reluctant to use her connections for her ex, Loki never asked, never even dropped hints. Darcy felt that his work was worth pulling a few strings for, even though she didn't understand, like ninety-nine percent of it.

"You've never met Tony, have you?"

"Yes? At a party once, when I first started. He probably doesn't remember. But you don't have to—"

Darcy held up a hand. "It sounds like an important project, Loki. It's nothing I wouldn't do for Jane."

"But you don't have to do that for Jane."

"I know, but can you just say thank you and move on? Jesus."

Loki blinked. “Thank you."

“You’re welcome.”

The café was nearly empty, except for the workaholics like them, who had somehow forgotten that normal people eat lunch at noon.

They waved the waiter and his menus off, ordering there on the spot. They frequented this place so often that it was a wonder the staff didn't just put their orders in when they saw them walk through the door.

"Are you doing anything fun this weekend?" Darcy asked.

Their food arrived. She took the lemon out of her water and put it into Loki’s glass.

"I'll probably just stay home and catch up on some work, maybe watch Netflix."

Darcy reached over and snagged Loki's tomatoes from his plate, while he rescued her pickles.

"Why don't you ask for the sandwich without tomatoes?" she asked as she put the tomatoes on her sandwich.

“Why don’t you ask for water with no lemon?” he asked as he bit into a pickle.

She shrugged and bit into her sandwich.

“Why do you ask about my plans for this weekend?”

“It’s a holiday weekend. Thanksgiving.”

Loki sat back in his chair. He looked at Darcy, then pulled out his phone and looked at the calendar.

“I didn’t realize.” When he looked up at her from his phone the corners of his mouth were turned down and a line had appeared between his eyebrows.

Darcy winced. “Oops. Sorry. I didn’t—“

Loki waved a hand. “Darcy, it’s fine. Really. She decorated and had the meal planned out weeks in advance. So I have no way of knowing this year.” He smirked. “And I’m not American.”

“I just opened a whole can of worms, didn’t I?”

He reached across the table and squeezed Darcy’s hand. It felt warm and a bit rough. Darcy squeezed back. She was mortified that she had brought up the holidays and he had just gotten divorced. She resisted smacking herself on the forehead.

“Darce, it’s fine.”

She sighed. “If you say so.”

“Thank you for your concern.” Loki returned to his soup.

Darcy nodded and munched half-heartedly on a pepper. She would be spending the holiday with Jane this year; she was too busy to go back home for the long weekend. Maybe…

“So you’re free, then, on Thursday?”

*

“God, I felt like such an idiot, Jane.” Darcy stabbed her fork into her salad. “He sat there with his stupid sad eyes, looking exactly like the kid I told that Santa isn’t real. I’m a Jew, we don’t do Santa.”

“You didn’t do it on purpose. I’m sure it was fine, really.”

“Yeah. So I invited him to Thanksgiving.” Darcy shoved a forkful of salad in her mouth and waited for the inevitable outburst.

Jane’s eyes bugged. “Darcy! It was just supposed to be the two of us and some Chinese take-out. Now it’s going to be the two of us and sad Loki.”

“No, it’ll be fine. He’s bringing his brother.”

What was Darcy supposed to do? Loki had been sitting there, with his sad eyes, morosely stirring his soup, so unlike the posh, British man she had become friends with. No one is supposed to be alone during the holidays, so she did the next best thing and invited him along. He suggested bringing his brother along, because he was also alone in the city, and so why not?

“He has a brother? Why aren’t they celebrating with their family?”

“First, they’re not American. Second, their parents will be away somewhere,” Darcy said, waving a hand. “And yes, he has a brother. But I think you and Loki will hit it off. Remember you said he was hot? You guys can talk about science stuff, and I can drink and eat pie, and watch all the Thanksgiving episodes of Friends. It’ll be great. Do you know how to cook a turkey?”

*

Jane’s place was never fit for guests besides Darcy, so they decided to use Darcy’s place. Darcy called her mother in a panic on Tuesday night after dinner with Jane, asking for a crash course on Thanksgiving dinner. Her mother laughed and nearly hung up on her, then said it takes more than two days to prepare a Thanksgiving dinner well. Darcy said she didn’t need “well,” just “passable.”

“Are you trying to impress someone?”

“No, a few friends of mine don’t have anyone to celebrate with, so I invited them over. Jane will be there, too. So tell me what to do.”

And that’s why Darcy found herself awake at 8 a.m. on Thursday, still in pajamas, peeling potatoes. The turkey was prepped, the oven was warming, and because Darcy had just one oven, Jane had volunteered herself for dessert and stuffing.

As she peeled, Darcy hoped that Jane and Loki would hit it off. They were both scientists working for SI. Jane hadn’t had a boyfriend in so many years she probably forgot what a man looked like naked in a non-clinical way, and Darcy was tired of Loki’s big eyes being sad all the time. They would find something to talk about, and go into a hole to discuss it like Jane could with Bruce much of the time.

Not that Darcy was necessarily ready for another relationship, but from what Loki had told her of his brother, he sounded like an interesting person, someone who could carry on an intelligent conversation.

Buried amongst the flotsam and jetsam of her kitchen counter, Darcy’s cell phone started ringing. Fumbling the potato to the ground, she put the phone on speaker.

“Oh, you’re awake,” Loki said. “I didn’t think you would be awake until just before noon.”

Darcy blew hair out of her eyes. “I’ve been up since seven.” She rescued and rinsed off the potato and went back to peeling.

“I hope you’re not going to a lot of trouble for this meal. Take-out would have been fine.”

Darcy resisted the urge to shout at Loki that it wasn’t a big deal, and to stop apologizing because he feels like people are going out of their way to please or accommodate him, instead of actually wanting to do it for him. Shit, that woman had done a number on him. “I’m twenty-eight; it’s a skill I should probably acquire anyway, so it’s no big deal,” she said instead.

“Okay,” he said, still sounding unsure. “Is there anything I can do? Or bring?”

Stopping the peeling, Darcy looked around the kitchen. The turkey was ready, the potatoes would be done, Jane was taking care of her end of the deal. In her rush to buy everything and make sure at least the turkey was on the table, she had forgotten social lubricant. “Alcohol. And an appetizer. Please.”

“Of course. Anything else?”

“Nope,” Darcy said. “Thanks”

“Still four o’clock?”

“Yes, still four.” She fumbled another potato and swore under her breath as she bent to pick it up.

“Darcy. Are you sure—“

“Yes, Loki! See you at four.” She jabbed at the red button until the screen went dark again.

*

Darcy was amazed at herself. She had finished everything, and it was just past three-thirty. She had even showered. After changing outfits three or four times, she had decided to be comfortable in a pair of jeans and a sweater. She had cooked and prepared a goddamn feast, she was allowed to put on her oldest, comfiest jeans and a sweater she’d had since college.

Jane tromped in late, weighed down with carrier bags of food. The smell of the pies wafting from one of the bags on the counter made Darcy’s mouth water.

“Why didn’t you ever cook for yourself when I was interning for you?” Darcy asked as she unpacked the bags. There was enough stuffing for a family of fifteen, two pies (one pumpkin, one blueberry), and homemade bread rolls.

“You mean why didn’t I cook for you?” Jane smirked.

“Tomato, tomahto.”

Jane looked around the kitchen, disbelief etched on her face. “You’re done.”

Darcy didn’t know whether to be offended, or beam with pride at winning at being an adult. “Yeah, I got everything done. Turkey’s resting, potatoes are mashed and keeping warm, I showered, and the table is all set. Complete with a centerpiece.”

The table was indeed set, in an elaborate display of browns and oranges, complete with water goblets, wine glasses and name cards.

“You need to stay off Pinterest,” Jane said seriously.

“Meh, it gave me something to do yesterday when work was slow.” Darcy flopped on the couch and momentarily regretted agreeing to host Thanksgiving. Now that everything was finished all she wanted to do was nap. Instead she turned on the TV and flipped to the football game while Jane fussed in the kitchen.

The door buzzed promptly at four, and Darcy wondered if Loki and his brother had been loitering outside on the sidewalk, making her doorman nervous and waiting until precisely four to ring the buzzer.

Whoever Darcy was expecting to accompany Loki, it was not this muscle-bound, gargantuan blonde man standing next to Loki.

“Whoa.” Eloquent, as always. Loki and his brother exchanged looks.

“I mean, hello, welcome to my home.” She opened the door wide enough for them to come in.

“Happy Thanksgiving,” Loki said as he offered a few bags. One smelled delicious, the other clinked pleasantly with wine bottles. “This is Thor. Thor, this is Darcy Lewis. She is Tony Stark’s head of communications.”

“It’s a pleasure,” Thor boomed out, his hand engulfing Darcy’s smaller one.

“Likewise,” Darcy squeaked out. She took her hand back and motioned for them to follow her.

“I thought you said Jane Foster was going to be here?” Loki asked.

“Oh, she is. She’s fussing in the kitchen even though _everything is finished,_ ” she said, raising her voice to carry into the kitchen where she knew Jane was double checking the gravy. She noticed Loki’s surprised look and tutted. “I am a responsible adult, Odinson, I have excellent time management skills.”

Jane popped out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel. “Hi, you must be Loki. Jane Foster.”

"Yes, it's nice to meet you, finally." They shook hands and Loki smiled. Such a charmer. "This is my brother, Thor."

"He's enormous," Jane remarked to Darcy. She looked up at Thor. "You're enormous."

Darcy sighed in relief because she wasn't the most awkward person there.

He threw his head back and laughed. "Compared to you lovely ladies, I suppose I am."

"The Odinson boys are such charmers. Jane you take the bags, I'll take the coats," Darcy said. "Guys, living room is through there. We'll crack the wine and get started."

*

“My father’s company funded that. I was always interested to hear the results of the project. Once we close the deal, we never really hear much more about the projects we fund.”

Jane smiled widely and launched into a discussion about the results of her beloved project, Thor a clearly attentive audience, his wine glass forgotten on the coffee table.

Bored with the conversation, Darcy went into the kitchen. Most of the meal had gone exactly like that: Jane and Thor getting lost in conversation while Loki and Darcy steadily worked their way through the bottles of wine. Darcy had tried, but she couldn't find anything to talk about with Thor, and anything Jane and Loki talked about fizzled out almost instantly.

Loki was at the counter putting the leftovers into tupperware. Darcy picked up a green bean and munched on it.

“I wanted to introduce you to Jane because I thought you two might hit it off. Between science and SI I figured you wouldn’t run out of things to talk about.”

Loki looked up from where he was carefully spooning sweet potatoes into a dish. “You invited her for me?” He banged the spoon on the side of the bowl and closed it with a snap.

“You always look so sad. I wanted to help.” She took the spoon from Loki and licked it clean before putting it in the sink. At Loki’s incredulous stare she said, “I graze. So what?”

“What would we have to talk about besides ’science’ and working at SI?” he asked. He started in on the turkey carcass, tearing off the leftover meat. “In my experience, no good comes from dating someone in the field.”

"Shit." Darcy hadn't thought of that. That was a good point, because if Darcy thought back, she had never dated anyone she worked with, or anyone in the same field. Relationships were built on more than liking science and working at the same company. You need someone to get you out of your head.

Loki nodded and kept working at the carcass until it was bare and two Ziploc bags were full. "I appreciate the thought, however." He leaned over and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Thank you. Not just for the meal but for the company as well."

"You're welcome," Darcy said, and she meant it.

"Thor? Are you ready? We should get out of the girls' hair." He smiled and held up a bag of turkey. "I'm taking this."

"Take what you want. At this rate I'll be eating turkey sandwiches until New Year," Darcy remarked.

When the pair entered the living room, Jane and Thor were just finishing putting each other's numbers in their phones.

"It's a date, then," Jane said, smiling up at Thor.

"Wonderful." Thor turned to look at Darcy and Loki. "Darcy! Thank you so much for introducing me to Jane."

She shrugged. "It was no problem. She needs a social life outside the guys at the lab. I'm glad you had a good time."

After the Odinson brothers had left with promises of lunch on Saturday (Darcy was already thinking maybe not), Darcy and Jane were cleaning up the kitchen. Most of it had been done by Loki, but there was still the odd wine glass or fork that needed washing up.

"So you and Thor, huh?"

Jane winced. "I know, I'm sorry. I know you meant for me and Loki to hit it off, but we have nothing in common. He's pretty to look at, though. But Thor…" She shook her head and a smile pulled at the corner of her mouth. Darcy laughed.

"You're smitten!" 

Jane blushed right up to her roots. "It's just dinner tomorrow night. It might not even turn into anything."

"Mhm. Right." Darcy grabbed the last bottle of wine and tugged Jane into the living room. "Come on. Friends Thanksgiving episodes, we can't let a Thanksgiving tradition die just because we added boys to the mix this year."

"Yeah, all right."

**Author's Note:**

> welltraveled-converseshoes.tumblr.com


End file.
